Flavours from China

Back in France the Chinese restaurants have a poor reputation and are often the cheapest. They serve always the same : pre-cooked dim-sum , noodles and Cantonese rice. What a narrow glimpse of Chinese gastronomy!

First China is wide, and made of many different regions, each one with it’s specialities. For exemple in the south they use more rice, where it is wheat in North.
The way to eat is the same in all the country : many dishes in the centre of the tables, and everyone share with it chopsticks.

Chinese are currently fascinated by Europe , and particularly Paris. In big cities like Shanghai and Beijing streets are full of “French” pastry shops, with “French” name like “Paris Baguette” or “Fait Maison”. Most are very good although a bit expensive, and the French pastries are somehow blended with Chinese style. It happened to us several time to bite in a “croissant” to find, say pork, inside.

Overall food is very good, diverse and accessible because Chinese eat all the day long and street are stuffed of good take out options.
And it is only to speak about Chinese gastronomy, but with so many neighbours, Asian cuisine is very common also, and as delicious!
Our only reproach is that Chinese cuisine is often oily, and with no surprise the biggest department in supermarket is about cooking oil.

Here are some pictures of the variate dishes we tasted, from Shanghai to Beijing.